


The Hero Dies

by trekkiepirate



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alice love no Alice hate, F/M, I am not compliant, M/M, Rating for Language, THIS HURT SO BAD TO WRITE, The Death is not the canon one, for once they don't forget Penny is a PSYCHIC why say your plans out loud, the next in my continuing NO HERE'S HOW YOU COULD FIX THAT FINALE series, this finale is the pain that keeps on giving even in fix-it fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18696229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trekkiepirate/pseuds/trekkiepirate
Summary: Quentin threw the bottle containing the Monster into the Seam as soon as they saw it. From halfway across the damn room.Alice startled at the snarl on his face, but Penny spoke first.“Dude, what the actual fuck?”“I did a lot of throwing recently,” Quentin said, face gradually softening. “And that bastard had Eliot.”Alice frowned the same way she did whenever Quentin said their friend's name. Like it meant something... more. She moved forward to throw the Monster's sister into the Seam as well.That's when Everett appeared.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw a tumblr post that pointed out, even from a narrative perspective, Quentin being the one to die was stupid. He had no real connection to the Library or even cared about the gods or knowledge or power. All he cared about, all his motivation was in saving Eliot.
> 
> Alice on the other hand...

Quentin threw the bottle containing the Monster into the Seam as soon as they saw it. From halfway across the damn room.

Alice startled at the snarl on his face, but Penny spoke first.

“Dude, what the actual fuck?”

“I did a lot of throwing recently,” Quentin said, face gradually softening. “And that bastard had Eliot.”

Alice frowned the same way she did whenever Quentin said their friend's name. Like it meant something... more. She moved forward to throw the Monster's sister into the Seam as well.

That's when Everett appeared.

“Miss Quinn.”

They both held up hands for spells, even as Alice pointed out, “You can't cast in here.”

“Mutually assured destruction,” Everett nodded.

Penny nearly rolled his eyes when the dude starting monologuing about power and knowledge and godhood like a shitty Bond villain. “I studied you too, Alice. Your time as a niffin. I assure you I will be better. Not a monster; myself, but more.”

Alice shuffled. “I don't know.”

Penny shook his head as a message came through into his mind. From Alice. “Oh shit.” He leaned in towards Quentin and whispered, “She says she has a plan. Mend the mirror. She'll throw the bottle and run, Everett will get the brunt of whatever happens.”

Quentin met Alice's eyes and they could both she her resolve even as she pretended to capitulate.

“Okay,” she lowered her hand. “Okay.”

Alice kept Everett's attention on her, but Quentin still put his hand behind his back as he cast the mending spell.

Quentin nodded that it was time and she said, “Take him. Do it now.”

Penny knew an order when he heard one and he grabbed Quentin just as the mirror was repaired.

Alice hurled the bottle into the Seam as soon as it appeared, then ran.

But only halfway. She turned to see Everett dissolving as sparks flew from the mirror.

Penny was still wrestling a struggling Quentin. “Alice. No, Alice!”

Alice turned back to them, blonde hair flying around her face as she was lifted by the blast wave, dissolving before their eyes.

Quentin was still screaming and crying as Penny dragged them both back through the mirror portal.

They fell into a painful heap.

Quentin immediately turned, punching at Penny with more force than accuracy. “You said she had a fucking plan! You made me kill her!”

Penny batted away Quentin's hands until the other boy fell wailing to the floor, fight gone in place of overwhelming grief. Penny knew that feeling intimately.

“She said she did. I think... I think that was her plan. Right after she told me to take you, she dropped her wards and sent a frankly disgusting amount of love. Mostly for you, but for all of us. Fuck, even me and we still barely know each other. She knew she screwed us over last time the chips were down; this time she wanted to save us. Save you. You didn't kill her, she sacrificed herself. For her friends.”

“Why didn't she just keeping running?” Quentin sobbed.

“The girl basically radiates self-loathing,” Penny shook his head. “Probably why you two got along as well as you did. What would you have done?”

Quentin stopped at that. “The same thing,” he said, at last.

Penny stood and offered Quentin a hand up. “C'mon, we gotta tell the others. Everett was right about one thing.”

“She was a hero,” Quentin shook his head, still trembling. “She was always going to be the hero. In the end.”

Margo hugged Quentin the second they got to the infirmary. “Eliot's stabilized. He's gonna be okay. Beat all to shit, but he'll be okay.” The smile on her face froze when she pulled back and looked at Quentin's face. She looked past him to where Penny stood.

Where only Penny stood.

“Shit, fuck, ballsack of a centaur,” she hugged Quentin again, tighter and didn't complain when he cried on her shoulder. "I got you, Q. I got you. Whatever you need."

Penny left Quentin and Margo and went in search of Julia to deliver the bad news.

“How's Q?”

“How do you think he is?” Penny said, feeling about a million years old.

Julia squeezed Penny's arm and then headed towards the infirmary to see Quentin.

Kady took it much harder than Penny expected. They were back in the Physical Kids Cottage that night and she took an ashtray looking thing, hurling it against the far wall.

It shattered into so many pieces, Penny winced as he thought of broken mirrors.

Quentin came from the kitchen a moment later, the beginnings of a sandwich in his hands. “I think throwing shit is what I'm supposed to do.” He lifted a hand to begin the mending spell, natural as breathing, then stopped.

“Yeah well, at least you have Eliot back. I just can't fucking win,” Kady sighed.

Quentin froze and put the food in his hands on a nearby side table (and dude, that shit's gross). “Fuck.” He quickly moved around the couch separating them and hugged Kady. “Fuck.”

“Fuck indeed,” she said, slowly relaxing into the hug. Her body shuddered a few times and then she pulled back. “I gotta let Zelda know. We were... something vaguely resembling a team. Shit.” She stormed out, not even closing the door behind her.

Penny looked at Quentin. “What was that about?”

“It's not my place,” Quentin said, running a hand over his face. He looked down at the sandwich he had abandoned and scooped it up. “I gotta make some more of these. Margo bullied Lipson into letting us use the shower but she drew the line at bringing us food.”

“Gonna be there for a while?” Penny asked, following Quentin for lack of anything else to do.

Quentin nodded as he threw out what he held in his hands and wiped them on his pants (again, shit's gross). “He's in a medically induced coma until his body's healed up enough.” He didn't make eye contact as he set about methodically fixing a sandwich. “Lipson,” he sighed, “she doesn't know when he'll wake up, just that he will. Eventually. Most likely.”

Penny didn't know what to say, so he left in search of Julia.


	2. Chapter 2

Quentin was there when Eliot woke up, though Margo reacted first.

“Thanking fucking christ,” she exhaled as if she hadn't breathed properly since she drove Sorrow into Eliot's body.

“Hey Bambi,” Eliot said, raising a weak hand to her hair.

“The fuck were you thinking, getting possessed?”

Eliot smiled softly at her harsh words and didn't comment on the shaky voice she delivered them with. “Well you know,” his quip was drowned out as he began to cough.

Quentin was there in a second with a cup of water and a straw.

Eliot grabbed Quentin's wrist and didn't let go even when he finished drinking. “Q, I have to say something.”

Margo leaned back but didn't leave.

“Q, I'm sorry.”

Quentin put the cup down with his other hand. “Eliot, whatever the Monster did isn't on you. You don't have to apologize for any of it.”

Eliot twisted his hand to intertwine their fingers. “Not that. I'm apologizing for saying proof of concept wasn't enough. That it wasn't us. I was afraid and I'm not going to be afraid anymore. I love you, Q. I'm in love with you.”

Quentin's eyes filled with tears. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he squeezed Eliot's hand. "El, I never stopped loving you. I can't. But-”

Eliot froze.

“Alice and I... Alice died,” Quentin said, his tears spilling over. “She was... she was helping us save you and she sacrificed herself for me. For you. For all of us. For the world. We got back together, in the days before and she just died a couple days ago and I just...”

Eliot started to move again, but this time it was Quentin who caught his wrist.

“El, I'm not saying no. I love you and I want this. I want you. But... not yet.” Quentin shook his head. “You need to heal. Fuck, I need to heal.” He leaned down and kissed Eliot's hand. “But when we're both... better than we are now. Yes, Eliot. When the time comes it will always be yes. I promise. Peaches and plums.”

“Peaches and plums,” Eliot replied as if on autopilot. “Not yet. But yes?”

“Yes.”

Eliot fell back to sleep with a small smile on his face and Quentin stroked his cheek.

“This makes so much more sense, you know.”

Quentin faced Margo. “El told you?”

“Not about peaches and plums, whatever the fuck that means. I just mean,” she gestured at Quentin, “this. I love you, kid, but you look like cold shit. If fact, you look like the same kind of cold shit you did when we thought Eliot was dead.” She tilted her head to study him. “You love them both, huh?”

Quentin nodded. “So much. But I can't be happy, even about this. Not yet."

“Hey,” Margo leaned up and cupped Quentin's cheek, “she did what she did so you could live. She knew. We all fucking knew, on some level. She died knowing that you will be loved and have someone to love.” Margo sat back. “Kudos on the mature decision for you two to wait, by the way. You didn't Todd that one up. I'm impressed.”

Quentin laughed, brief but real. “I thought it was 'Quentin'-ing it up?”

“And now it isn't. Congrats on being an adult. It fucking sucks.”

“God it does.”

Margo took Quentin's hand because apparently it was a day of hand-holding. They'd probably have a goddamn sing-a-long next. “Luckily, you aren't alone. Although you two chuckledicks being in love means I need to give you both the shovel speech.”

Q raised an eyebrow. “Not just me?”

“El admitted he fucked this up once,” Margo pointed out. “And you're one of my best friends. Eliot a hundred times more than you, of course.”

“Of course.”

Margo smiled. “I used to only be able to stand Eliot. But I can stand you.”

“And Josh?' Quentin asked. “Just how the hell did that actually happen anyway?”

Margo laughed. “Sit your scrawny ass down, Coldwater. It's a hell of a story. Sex, death, werewolves. I got to have a gun again. That was fun.”

When Eliot woke up again, Quentin was sleeping, his head next to Eliot's hip.

“He'll hurt his neck.”

Margo nodded and put her magazine down. “Yeah, I told him that seven times. Guess he'll have to join you in physical therapy.”

Eliot pulled a face. “Physical therapy? Pass.”

“Yeah, no. Magic's still wonky since we used up all the juice saving your ass. And Sorrow did a fucking number on your side. Better a gimp than dead, so I feel no guilt.”

Smiling, Eliot gently carded a hand through Quentin's shorter hair.

Margo watched Quentin nuzzled into he touch without waking and tried very hard not to grin like a moron at the unconscious sappiness. “You want to give me the rundown on what I missed?”

"Trade you for the origin story of this pears and plums thing."

"Peaches and plums," Eliot said, looking down at Quentin still. "Deal."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, made myself cry again.

As Eliot walked towards the memorial bonfire, leaning heavily on his cane and Margo, he felt the music spell take hold. From the distance, he watched Quentin throw in a mug and Kady a prism, their shoulders touching.

Eliot began to sing as they got closer and he let go of Margo to clutch the crown he held. Thinking back to when he had placed it on Alice's head and given her the title of Queen   
Alice the Wise, he gently tossed it into the blaze.

“Take On Me”. Alice did love her 80s music, Eliot thought as he sat.

He placed a hand on Quentin's thigh and it was immediately taken. Q's other hand was holding Kady's, who was also holding Julia's.

Margo stood on the other side with Fogg, Zelda, Harriet, and some Librarian called Sheila that apparently Alice had befriended.

Eliot loved that Alice had made a new friend. She'd never been especially good at that. He was proud of her and glad she'd learned to open herself up more.

They all sang as each threw in an object that meant something to them and their relationship to Alice.

Julia and Fogg each had a little glass horse while Margo threw in a wine bottle she'd emptied earlier. Sheila and Zelda sang, as part of the spell, and Sheila threw in an empty water glass.

The song ended and Zelda finally stepped forward with papers in her hands. “I was rather hoping Miss Quinn would agree to take over running the Library. I even drew up a contract for her.” She bent down and let the fire take it, before stepping back to translate her small speech to her daughter. And it still blew Eliot's mind that Zelda had a daughter.

Penny kept his distance, standing behind Julia and laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. He had nothing to give the fire so instead he spoke. “So, I finally got the 411 on this timeline's Alice. Yeah, she fucked us over once-”

Quentin tensed and Eliot placed his other hand on Q's arm.

“-but she's a hero. Twice now she's given her life for her friends. For those she loved.”

Sensing the tears before they fell, Eliot tucked Quentin under his chin, letting him hide his crying in Eliot's black shirt.

Julia put an arm around Kady, who held strong and didn't cry.

Eliot looked from them to Quentin and had the absolute worst thought.

For a moment, he saw a different memorial. One in which he carried not a crown, but a peach. One in which Kady gave her strength to Julia while Alice and Eliot held hands in mutual grief.

Holding Quentin a little tighter, Eliot shook his head to rid himself of the image.

Eliot was heartbroken; Alice was his friend and he loved her. He bowed his head and closed his eyes. He thanked her a million times over for all she had done for them. For being the hero she was always destined to be. He almost thought he felt a small hand touch his head before the feeling passed. For all her faults, Alice Quinn would forever be Eliot's hero. Twice now, she'd given him the most precious gift she ever could: Quentin's life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny40 guides Alice to the other side.

"So there you have it," Penny, their Penny, said as he and Alice returned to the Underworld. "They will hurt, they will grieve and then they will change the world. Because you made that possible."

Alice turned to him. "What happens now? What do I do? Where do I... I go?"

Penny smiled. "You're not going to hell, Alice. You're going to peace. What would be your version of true peace?" He held out a Metro card.

As a door appeared, Alice raised her head. "Sunday mornings when my Dad would make pancakes. Charlie and I would watch movies and he'd teach me how to make the syrup spell words." She reached out for a hug that Penny had already opened his arms for.

"Bye, Alice," Penny smiled.

"Goodbye, Penny," she smiled, bright and happy in a way he hadn't seen in years.

And she walked through the door.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm apparently continuing my trend of retelling the story from different people's perspectives. The next one is Margo and the last is Eliot.
> 
> Edit: Apparently the last one is Alice because the story didn't want to end without her getting her peace.


End file.
